Collapsible gate, door, and the like



arch 6, 1951 F. G. COLEMAN coLLAPsIBLE GATE, DooR, AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April '7'. 1947 f/w 9010,. w f w, \l a N N2 4/ 3 fwww Patented Mar. 6, 1951 FrederickGeorge Coleman, West Wickham, England Application April 7', 1947", Serial No. 739,778 In Great. Britain April 18,1946

(Cl. ISG-229) .4. Claims. 1

This invention relates to collapsible gates, doors, shutters and the like (hereinafter referred to as gates in the following description and the claims appended thereto) ofthe kind comprising shutter plates or panels which are rotatably secured together at their adjacent longitudinal edges. so that the shutter plates may be extended to closed position and may be collapsed therefrom to open position by folding the shutter plates together alternately back to back and face to face, accordion-wise, and the invention refers to collapsible gates of the kind above specied wherein the adjacent longitudinal edge portions ,y ,of the shutter plates, in section, have a rounded contour and are rotatably housed inthe channels of longitudinally-extending channelled connecting members, alternate connecting members being secured to. pickets or uprights.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a collapsible gate as setv forth above having an improved construction. A more specic object of thev invention is to provide such a collapsible gate wherein. friction between adjacent shutter plates is obviated. Another object of the invention is to provide a collapsible gate whereinwear at the bottom of the rounded edges of the shutter plates may be readily compensated for. A further object of the: invention vis the provision. of a collapsible gate as set forth above wherein the rounded edges of the shutter plates may bev provided in a strongA and robust form and may be. made of any desired material different from that from whichthe main part of the shutter plates is constructed. A still further object of my invention isv to provide improved connecting means'enabling the connecting members to be readily secured to the pickets and de,- tached therefrom.

Further objects and advantagesof the present invention will be apparent from the following description of one form of collapsible gate in accordance with my invention read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a partial front elevational View of the gate in the extended or closed position;

Fig. 2A is a side view of thev gate, looking from the line 3--3 of l, drawn to, an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 6 is aview similar to Fig. 5y but showing `the shutter plates folded together.

The gate shownin the drawing comprises a plurality kof shutter plates generally designated I@ which. are rotatably secured together at their adjacent longitudinal edgesby means of longitudinally-extending channelled connecting members 211,. 2|, the alternate connecting members. 2.I being secured to pickets 30. Some or all of the pickets 30- have secured to their upper ends up` wardly projecting bars 3| which rotatably carry rollers 32 running on track bars 33, and also have secured to their lower endsI downwardly projecting barsl 34 which run. in. a channel (not shown) in the floor. These shutter plates can. be co1- lapsed together from the extended. or closed position shown in Fig.. 1 to open position in known manner by folding the shutter plates together altern-ately face to face4 and back to back, as shown in Fig. 6.. A lazy-tongs device 40- 'is preferably secured tothe. pickets, such deviceA helping to maintain vthe pickets evenly spaced during opening and closing of the gate.

The shutter plates I0 are each formed oa longitudinally-extending intermediate section Il (Figs. 5 and 6^) and outer longitudinally-extending sections l-2 which are riveted or otherwise se.- cured to the intermediate section and which have outer longitudinal edge portions that, in section, have a rounded contour or proiile. Such rounded edge portions may be. provided by Ycurled edge portions. of the sections lf2 but are preferably in the form of. solid bulbous beads- I3, as shown in Figs. 5V and 6. These beads arel arranged. toproject on opposite sides of each shutter plate, as shown in the drawing. It is. preferred thatthe bulbo-us edge sections I2 be formed separately from the intermediate sections Il as disclosed; not only for ready replacement when necessary and'. to permit a selection of materials of. construction, butalso for the reason thatA it iseasier to roll or extrude the narrower edge sections than to form the entire shutter plates or panels in one piece.

The connecting members 2li, 2 I- comprise a base 22, 23 respectively having convexly curved side portions 24, 25 respectively which are partially returned, and provide. two round channels Z, 2l respectively on each connecting member. Ad.- jacent beads on the shutter plates are rotatably housed within they channels of each connecting an, importantl feature of my invention I provide the connecting members 20, 2|- witha. wall 28 which extends centrally of and normally to the base 22 or 23. This wall separates the two channels and not only allows the adjacent end sections I2 of the' shutter plates to move freely without coming into frictional contact but also functions to confine movement of the shutter plates within predetermined limits, as will be clearly seen from Figs. 5 and 6. The free ends 0f the curved sides 24, of the connecting members 20, 2| are spaced from the wall 28 a distance less than the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the beaded edges I3 of the shutter plates l0 so that such edges are secured in the channels 26, 21 against lateral withdrawal therefrom.

Whereas the external contour of the connectlng members 20 may be omega-shaped as shown or of any other desired ornamental form, the connecting members 2| preferably have a base 23 providing a plane surface for anti-rocking engagement with the front plane face of the pickets 30, and in accordance with a further feature of my invention the base 23 of each connecting v,

member 2| is provided with a longitudinally-extending recess or keyway and the front face of each picket is provided with projections or keys adapted to slide in the said recess or keyway and to secure the picket to the connecting member against lateral separation. Thus, as shown in the drawing the base of each connecting mem-ber may have a channel 29 with undercut sides and the pickets 30 may have a plurality of screws or bolts screwed into the front face of the pickets with their heads 38 projecting from the face of the pickets and dovetailed to correspond in shape to the channels 29 in the connecting members 2|. In this manner, not only can the beaded edges of the shutter plates be slid lengthwise into the channels in the connecting members but the pickets can also be slid lengthwise into engagement with the connecting members, both the shutter plates and the pickets being readily detached from the connecting members when desired.

In accordance with a still further feature of my invention I support the shutter plates on bearing blocks tted at the lower end of the connecting members 2|, and also, if desired, at the lower end of the connecting members 20. In the preferred arrangement illustrated in the drawing, the lower end of each picket has a wall 36 which extends normally to the picket' in spaced relationship to the lower end of the connecting member 2| secured to the picket so as to form a recess in which a bearing block 31 is housed. In an alternative arrangement, not shown, the bearing blocks are supported by the connecting members. The bearing blocks 31, which are made of hardened steel or other suitable material, readily allow adjustments to be made to compensate for wear at the ends of the shaped sections |2 of the shutter plates, it being merely necessary, for example, to insert shims of steel or the like beneath the shaped sections, which can be readily raised to allow the shims to be inserted.

The collapsible gate just described has numerous advantages of which the following may be noted. The rounded longitudinal edges of the shutter plates are strong and robust and may -be made of any desired material which may be different from that of which the intermediate sections of the shutter plates is made. Such intermediate sections, moreover, may be made of sheet material of any desired gauge. The connecting members, whilst allowing the shutter plates freely to rotate relatively thereto, prevent the shutter plates from coming into frictional contact and act as stops to confine the movement of the shutter plates within delinite limits. The weight of the shutter plates is taken by bearing blocks which allow wear at the ends of the rear shaped sections readily to be compensated for as by the insertion of shims or new bearing blocks. Since not only the shutter plates but also the pickets are slidingly secured to the connecting members, the various parts of the gate are readily assembled together and may readily be given a relative longitudinal movement for the purposes of adjustment.

I claim:

1. A collapsible gate of the kind specied, comprising shutter plates whose longitudinal edge portions have, in section, a rounded enlarged bulbous contour, longitudinally-extending connecting members each providing channels in which adjacent longitudinal edge portions of the plates are rotatably secured, whereby the shutter plates are rotatably secured together at their adjacent longitudinal edges, pickets to which alternate connecting members are attached, and a wall on each connecting member extending completely between the adjacent bulbous edge portions of adjoining shutter plates separating the channels therein and being the sole means for maintaining out of contact the bulbous edge portions of the plates secured in the channels, said channels and the separating wall therefor cooperating to embrace and prevent lateral withdrawal from said channels of the edge portions of said plates.

2. A collapsible gate as claimed in claim 1, wherein each connecting member comprises a base, a wall upstanding centrally therefrom and upstanding sides having inwardly extending portions, the said base, wall and sides forming two channels of substantially circular cross-section, within which said bulbous edge portions are loosely rotatably retained.

3. A collapsible gate as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rounded longitudinal edge portions of the shutter plates are in the form of solid bulbous beads and are provided by separate end plate sections secured to an intermediate plate section, whereby a selection of materials for forming said shutter plate portions may be hadand the production of the shaped edge portions facilitated.

4. A collapsible gate as claimed in claim 3, wherein the base of each connecting member secured to a picket has a longitudinally-extending undercut recess and each picket has at least one projection corresponding in transverse section to and housed in the recess of its connecting member whereby the connecting members are slidingly secured to the pickets.

FREDERICK GEORGE COLEMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,017,808 Rush Feb. 20, 1912 1,644,285 Smith Oct. 4, 1927 1,718,649 Jackson June 25, 1929 2,116,847 Pilcher May 10, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 447,798 Great Britain May 26, 1936 848,046 France June 17, 1939 

